Dr. Zahra "Niccu" Tafarrodi is an educator, researcher and author. She is the founder and chairwoman of the Multicultural Committee of the American Cancer Society, Minnesota Division.

In the past four years, Dr. Tafarrodi and her troop of some 300 volunteers have created and published cancer prevention brochures into 50 languages. The unprecedented project—endorsed by the World Health Organization, among other groups—focuses on education of immigrant women and refugees who can only communicate in their native languages.

"Immigrant woman and children are badly in need of education about their bodies and lifestyles," Dr. Tafarrodi says. "But first we need to understand women and children through interpretive and critical research before we can develop effective curriculum, teachers training and evaluation criteria."

Her career spans continents, cultures and languages. Born in Shiraz, Iran, the former girls' business college instructor began working with destitute families in the slums of south Tehran. After immigrating to the United States in 1984, she switched from business education to health education. She received a B.S. in public health, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in family health education from the University of Minnesota. Her Master's thesis was on early pregnancy among Jamaican women. Her doctoral dissertation was on AIDS education for immigrant teenagers.

Niccu is an avid gardener, cook, and fitness enthusiast, with seemingly endless energy for getting involved in new projects and hobbies. The walls of her home in Minneapolis are covered with the embroideries, paintings and photography created by herself and her two grown children, Ali and Nicky. The roses and vegetables she raises in her backyard and the cakes she elaborately decorates are legendary among friends and colleagues.

Dr. Tafarrodi travels frequently for numerous and widely diverse causes. She is the only Moslem member of a Christian group that travels to Guatemala two weeks a year to build infrastructure and purchase land for destitute peasants.

Contact her by email at niccu2@ihea.info.

[About Remembering Persia]
[Acknowledgments]

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